Just out of Reach
by Great Angemon
Summary: Link always felt the sky pulling at him, but he never knew why... but now he does. Rated T for my usual reason. Gift!fic for Alan Schezar for the month of Alantime.


Just out of Reach

By GreatAngemon

Link looked up at the sky, the clouds drifting lazily over the sun. Birds were flying here and there through the trees as Link lay there on the grass. Tentatively, Link pulled his hand from behind his head and stretched it towards the sky.

"Link!" a voice called from behind a hedge near Link."Link, where are you?" A moment later, a young woman with long blonde hair popped out of the bushes, looking strangely flustered. "Link," she sighed, walking up to him.

"Hey Zel," Link said absently. He was still lying on his back, looking up at the endless sea of blue stretched out before him.

"What're you doing?" she asked, looking at his prone figure.

"Just looking at the sky," he replied. He turned his head slightly to look at her."It's pretty, isn't it?"

"Huh?" she asked, looking around. "What's pretty?"

"The sky." Link turned back to the sky, closing his eyes. "I wish I could go there, sometimes. When I fight with Groose, or Pipit, I like to pretend I'm able to escape to the clouds."

Zelda looked surprised. "Are you okay?" she asked.

"I'm fine," Link said. "Why?"

"You're acting weird." Zelda sat down next to Link, who didn't seem willing to sit up yet.

Link just lay there silently, until Zelda asked, "Do you want to go do something else. We have all of the forest to hang out in, and we have the whole day."

But Link didn't seem to hear her. His eyes were closed, and his breathing had slowed. "Link?"Zelda asked, leaning over him. "Link, did you hear me?"

But Link's face was still and impassive. Zelda decided that since Link was asleep, she may as well get comfortable for the wait, so she lay down on the ground near him.

She looked up at the sky, noticing that Link had begun snoring lightly. She smiled. '_I wish I could be as carefree as you,_' she thought to herself. '_So carefree and naïve._' Slowly, almost without thought, she moved her hand to Link's ace, and brushed his shaggy hair out of his eyes.

As her fingers brushed against his face, he gave a low moan, and Zelda withdrew her hand, fearing she had awoken him. But he just turned and continued snoring. Zelda smiled, suddenly feeling drowsy herself. She closed her eyes, and slowly fell asleep as well.

Link awoke several hours later, and the first thing he noticed was that the sky, which had previously been a beautiful shade of light blue, here and there flecked with white, fluffy clouds, was now a marvelous violet, though still with a touch of pink in the westernmost region.

The second thing he noticed was that his arm was around a warm body, and that warm body was pressed up against his chest. Looking down, he saw Zelda, resting her head on his right arm, while his left arm was wrapped around her stomach.

As soon as he realized this, he tried to pull his arms away from her, slowly, but as he moved them, she stirred. "Link?"

"Yeah Zel?" Link asked.

"It's really pretty, isn't it?"

"What is?"

"The sky…" she said blearily. She rolled back over onto his arm, leaving Link there as she fell asleep. He rolled onto his back, leaving his arm on the ground under Zelda's head, and looked up at the sky.

'_It's so perfect,_' he thought silently. As he gazed up into the still darkening sky, by the merest trace of light left from the sun, he saw the form of a great bird fly over him.

He sat bolt upright, accidentally pulling his arm out from under Zelda, staring in the direction the bird had flown. _'What was that!_' He stood quickly and started running after it. He ran around trees and bushes until he came to a small clearing, where he saw the same bird standing in the middle of a patch of grass.

It was enormous, twice Link's size, with a beak like a ducks, except that it looked strong enough to rip off his arm. And its color. It was a majestic hue of red, crimson deeper than deep.

Its eyes seemed to pull Link closer to it, mesmerizing him, bewitching his thoughts. "Link?" a voice asked from behind him. Link jolted, as though he had been shocked. Turning, he saw Zelda crouching there next to him. "What are you doing?"

Link pointed at the bird. "Oh my gods," Zelda gasped. "Is that a… a… a Loftwing?"

"Loftwing?" Link asked.

"Yeah," Zelda replied. "My mom used to tell me fairytales about them. They were supposedly the servants of the great Goddess Hylia, used by her people when they lived on the Isle of the Goddess."

"Isn't that just a myth?" Link asked."I thought the Isle of the Goddess was just a story."

"So did I," she said. She opened her mouth to continue, but instead pointed at the sky behind Link, her face agape.

Link turned quickly, and saw another one of the Loftwings soaring down towards the first. It was a beautiful shade of purple, and as it landed, Link saw its eyes were a clear blue, which reminded him strangely of…

As the second bird landed, the first seemed to stand taller, and it moved forward. They moved their heads forward, wrapping their necks together. "Link," Zelda whispered. "I think they're in love."

Link knew she was right. "Does this mean the fairytales are true?"

"I think so." Zelda looked up at the sky. "I always knew there was something special about this place. Like there was some sort of strange connection here, to history."

"To the sky." Link stared at the birds, but suddenly felt like he was intruding on their privacy. "We should go."

As they walked away from the clearing, Link said to Zelda, "I've always felt like the sky was talking to me, asking me to come up there, but I never understood why. Now I do."


End file.
